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Ten years of brotherhood Tauawhi Men’s Centre
TEN YEARS OF BROTHERHOOD
TAUAWHI MEN’S CENTRE 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
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Wiremu Witana started on a journey with Tauawhi in 2011.
In November 2020 he was honoured as Tauawhi 2020 Man of the Year. Wiremu was one of Tauawhi Men’s Centre’s first clients. He was reminded of his own grandfather by the straight-up approach of counsellor Tangi Hepi. Wiremu is now employed fulltime as a kaimahi for Safe Man Safe Family with the Whānau Resilience Project. “Tauawhi is my brotherhood.” Tauawhi Men’s Centre hosted a double celebration at the end of 2020, marking both its 10-year birthday as well as the COVID-postponed Tauawhi Men of the Year award.The event packed out the wharenui at Te Wananga o Aotearoa Whirikoka campus. The Tauawhi team had been practising waiata for the event to perform as the 'Tauawhi Tenors', but were jokingly renamed the ‘B Flats’ by MC Walter “Wiz” Walsh. In a moving ceremony, Wiremu acknowledged his mother and father Jenny and Tom Witana (pictured left) and received a ceremonial korowai, gifted to Tauawhi each year by Maree Cotter. The 10th birthday of Tauawhi was a milestone Coordinator Tim Marshall did not foresee. “When we started we didn’t know if we would get past six months, so to get to 10 years is pretty amazing,” Tim said. The Tauawhi Men’s Centre opened on the 2nd of July 2010 to provide a ‘one stop shop’ specifically for men, who are often reluctant to ask for help. Over the past 10 years many hundreds of men and their whānau have been helped by Tauawhi. Tim has been part of Tauawhi since it began. He was presented with a tewhatewha carved by Simon Llardelli in recognition of his much valued contribution over the years. This secret addition to the programme had been organised behind the scenes by the Tauawhi team. “It was humbling for me,” said Tim. “But I receive it on behalf of all those who have contributed to Tauawhi and also for my family who have supported me over the past ten years to do what I do.” He says the 10 year milestone is a reset of sorts. “I feel we have gone some way to our vision of creating a community of caring men. There is still more work to do.” Stuff filmed the event for their web series Breaking Silence. Read the Tauawhi 10 Year Review online:
psec.org.nz/tauawhi
The Tauawhi Kaupapa
The vision of Tauawhi is to create a community of caring men.
• Men need to be part of the solution to family violence. • To support men to change their behaviour we need to take an ecological perspective, including personal, relationship, family, community and social influences. • Men who use violence have almost always learned dysfunctional behaviours as children or youths. • Māori have suffered dispossession and cultural loss due to colonialism and continue to experience structural racism. • All men are affected by pressure to be
“hard”, deny their emotions and not ask for help. • Violent men can become safe men, but this requires time. It’s a journey, not a quick fix. • Men of all ages need positive masculine role models. The most effective role models are men who have been in the same position but who have achieved positive change.
A culturally safe, mana-enhancing space
The large majority of Tauawhi clients are Māori. Tauawhi has always aimed to bring to life the values of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in its work and interactions with clients.
